2027 Prague, Bavaria and Salzburg. See where we're going
Personal Euro Tours
Menu
Schilthorn, Switzerland

Schilthorn

A revolving restaurant at 2,970 meters, reached by four cable cars from the valley floor

Before you go — this is the expensive one, and it is weather

  • Schilthorn is the big-ticket day in the Lauterbrunnen valley. The cableway climbs from the valley floor through Gimmelwald and Mürren to Birg, and then to Piz Gloria on the summit at 2,970 meters. Four sections, and the price reflects it.
  • Check the webcam before you buy a ticket. Everything you are paying for is a view, and our own photographs show what the alternative looks like: cloud filling the frame and a station building disappearing into it. The mountain has its own weather and the valley below can be clear while the top is not.
  • Go early. The first cars up are the quietest, the light is better, and cloud tends to build through the morning.

Budget tips

  • If the summit is in cloud, stop at Birg. It is cheaper, it has the Thrill Walk and the Skyline platform, and on a half-clear day it is often above the murk when Piz Gloria is inside it.
  • A Swiss Travel Pass or a Berner Oberland Pass cuts this substantially. Check what your pass covers before you pay the full fare — this is the single most expensive lift ticket in the valley.
  • Eat before you go up. The revolving restaurant is the point of the building, not the point of the day, and summit prices are summit prices.
Pointing out the valley from the Skyline platform
Pointing out the valley from the Skyline platform

Midday — the summit, and what the revolving restaurant actually is

  • Piz Gloria turns. The restaurant floor rotates, so a full circuit of the horizon comes to you while you sit. It takes around three quarters of an hour to go all the way round.
  • The view is the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau on one side and a very long way across Switzerland on the other. When it is clear, it is one of the widest views in the country.
  • It was a Bond location, and the building leans into that — On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed here in 1969, and there is an exhibition about it. Whether that is a draw or a distraction depends entirely on you.
  • Outside is better than inside. The terrace and the viewing platform are where the photographs on this page were taken.

Budget tips

  • The view costs nothing once you are up. Terraces, platforms and paths are all included in the lift ticket; only the food is extra.
  • The summit is cold. Take a layer, whatever the valley is doing — ours was 30 May and there was snow on the ground.
At the summit sign: Schilthorn Piz Gloria, 2,970 m
At the summit sign: Schilthorn Piz Gloria, 2,970 m

Afternoon — Birg, the Thrill Walk, and the way down

  • Break the descent at Birg. The Thrill Walk is a walkway pinned to the cliff face below the station: grated floor, glass panels, a tunnel through the rock. It is free with your ticket and it is more memorable than the summit for a lot of people.
  • The Skyline Walk is the platform cantilevered out over the drop. Our photographs of somebody standing on a dark deck with cloud pouring underneath are that.
  • Walk a section if the weather allows. The path from Birg down towards Mürren is a proper mountain walk with the whole valley in front of you.

Budget tips

  • Do not pay twice. Birg is on the way down from the summit, so build it into the one ticket rather than making a separate trip.
  • You can walk down to Mürren and save a section of the fare, if the path is open and you have the time and the boots.
The station buildings on the rock, cloud rising
The station buildings on the rock, cloud rising

How this fits with the rest of the valley

  • It pairs with Mürren, which the cableway passes through, and Mürren is where to stay if you want to be above the valley floor.
  • It does not pair with the Jungfraujoch on the same trip unless money is no object. Both are expensive high-altitude days looking at the same peaks from opposite sides. Pick one, and pick it on the forecast.
The cable dropping away toward Mürren
The cable dropping away toward Mürren

Would we plan this exact day for you?

Almost certainly not. The day above assumes you are happy on your feet for most of it, that you have the whole day, that you are comfortable working out Swiss trains and buses as you go, and that nobody with you is managing a pushchair, a bad knee, or a six-year-old at four in the afternoon. Change any one of those and the order changes, the pace changes, and sometimes the valley changes.

Rearranging a day around the people actually traveling is the part we do.

Schilthorn in photographs

18 images, every one taken on one of our own trips.

The station terrace above the cloud — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 The station terrace above the cloud The stair up the summit rock at Birg — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 The stair up the summit rock at Birg Snow still lying on the ridge opposite — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 Snow still lying on the ridge opposite Cloud pouring over the shoulder below the station — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 Cloud pouring over the shoulder below the station Alone on the platform, the peaks all around — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 Alone on the platform, the peaks all around The ridge and the station building beyond — Schilthorn, Switzerland · June 2026 The ridge and the station building beyond At the summit sign: Schilthorn Piz Gloria, 2,970 m — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 At the summit sign: Schilthorn Piz Gloria, 2,970 m The path along the ridge below the summit — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 The path along the ridge below the summit The valley a long way below the summit — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 The valley a long way below the summit The station buildings on the rock, cloud rising — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 The station buildings on the rock, cloud rising Pointing out the valley from the Skyline platform — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 Pointing out the valley from the Skyline platform The cableway running down over the cliff — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 The cableway running down over the cliff
Show the other 6 photographs
The cable dropping away toward Mürren — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 The cable dropping away toward Mürren The summit building in cloud — Schilthorn, Switzerland · June 2026 The summit building in cloud The group in the cable car — Schilthorn, Switzerland · June 2024 The group in the cable car In the Bond exhibit — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 In the Bond exhibit On the terrace in the cloud — Schilthorn, Switzerland · May 2022 On the terrace in the cloud In the cable car on the way up — Schilthorn, Switzerland · June 2024 In the cable car on the way up

This is one day. The trip is the harder part.

Notice what the guide above never tells you. It does not name a hotel, or say where to stay at all — it assumes you already have a bed. It gives you no way into Schilthorn from wherever you woke up, no view on whether it belongs on the second day of your trip or the ninth, and nothing about the week it rains.

Those answers change with your budget, your dates and who is traveling with you. Working them out, and booking them, is the job.

Tell us about your trip

The day above is free and yours to use. What it cannot do is decide where this fits in a two-week trip, which hotel works with your arrival time and your walking pace, what needs reserving months ahead, or what happens on the day it rains. That is the part you would be hiring me for, and planning starts at $750.

Or read the questions we are asked most — what a trip includes, how far ahead to book, deposits and cancellation.